Although there has been a decrease in the number of Montgomery County residents getting vaccinated at immunization clinics and school-based health and wellness centers, it is too early to tell if that is a trend, according to Dr. Nina Ashford, chief of the county’s Public Health Services.
“We are seeing a decline, a little bit, between FY 2024 and FY 2025 as far as children receiving immunizations, Ashford told MCM.
During August and September, the county makes a big push to ensure that children receive immunizations as school starts. So right now, “It’s a little too soon to tell what the true impact is,” she said.
The county’s clinics are aimed at servicing families without their own private medical provider or without insurance.
County records include only what it offered at its clinics and health centers. It does not include numbers of immunizations at private medical offices and hospitals.
Ashford urged parents with concerns or fears to speak to their medical providers. “At the end of the day, it really is about parents who generally care,” said Ashford.
Medical health providers are there to educate about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, she said. “[Vaccines have] saved millions and millions of lives.”
“I think the unfortunate reality of what is happening at the federal level—all the unnecessary skepticism that is being created around vaccines—it is making parents think twice about something that is very safe,” Ashford noted.
“Regardless of what is happening at the federal level, we can say that at least in Maryland, insurers will still be required to cover those vaccines,” Ashford explained, referring to the vaccines that were on the approved Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list as of Dec. 31, 2024. Maryland legislators passed a bill to require this, Ashford further noted.
“Thankfully, we live in a state that values and believes in science,” she said. “Vaccines are safe and effective and one of the greatest accomplishments in public health and medicine.”
Her advice is simple and direct: “Go forth and vaccinate.”
During this week’s media briefing, County Executive Marc Elrich stressed the need for people to get vaccinated. He criticized U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy, Jr. for cancelling contracts and striving to wind down federally-funded mRNA vaccine development.
“Obviously, Mr. Kennedy was asleep during the pandemic,” Elrich said, adding that the mRNA vaccine was effective and the COVID virus did mutate throughout the pandemic.
COVID transmission currently is low, but increasing, according to Sean O’Donnell, the public health emergency preparedness manager for Montgomery County Health and Human Services. O’Donnell pointed to the county’s wastewater, where data shows traces of COVID has gone up, as proof. The data shows a two-week lag between when COVID is found in sewage and when it appears in the community.
As of Tuesday, 24 people were hospitalized in Montgomery County with COVID-19. Nationwide, the positivity rate has risen from 5.8 percent at the start of summer to 8.6 percent, according to the College of American Pathologists, who reported the information via a back-to-school themed webinar about diseases lurking in the classroom.
The panelists stressed the need to wash hands, cover one’s mouth while sneezing and stay home from school when sick.
“It’s very important” to keep children up to date with vaccines as that reduces the risk of more serious illness and hospitalization, said Dr. David Schwartz, who specializes in global health.
Even if children don’t become very sick, they still bring home infections that can seriously affect older people in the household, he added.
Vaccination rates for COVID are low. About 5 percent of children six months to four years have received that vaccination, according to Schwartz. Fifteen percent of children between the ages of five to 17 have been vaccinated, he said.
Measles and whooping cough are more contagious and have higher vaccination compliance rates. Currently, there are 1,356 confirmed cases of measles in the United States. As of April, there were 9,047 cases of whooping cough, which Schwartz said was twice as many as there were this time last year.
